The Effect of Phrenic Nerve Blockade on Acute and Chronic Shoulder Pain in Patients for Lobectomy and Pneumonectomy

The Effect of Phrenic Nerve Blockade on Acute and Chronic Shoulder Pain in Patients for Lobectomy and Pneumonectomy.

The purpose of this study was to test whether peroperative infiltration of the phrenic nerve during lung surgery would protect patients against postoperative shoulder pain.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients planned for elective lobectomy or pneumonectomy
2. 18 years or more on the day of the operation
3. Danish skills appropriate for fulfilling preoperative questionnaires

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Known contralateral paresis of the Phrenic nerve
2. Allergy to Ropivacaine or Sodium Chloride
3. Preoperative ipsilateral shoulder pain
4. Infection or eczema on the intervention site. Clinical decision
5. Dementia or similar cerebral condition that makes the subject unable to perform a NRS-score of pain. Determined by clinical evaluation
6. Pregnancy
7. Acute porphyria